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(No Model.)

C. A. BENTZEN. MECHANICAL MOVEMENT Patented Feb. 5, 1884.

" UNITED STATES,

PAT-ENT (,)Fiucn cHiinLns A. BENTZEJ, oF New Youn, N. Y.

MECHANICAL MOVEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 292,976, dated February 5,1 1884.

Y Application filed July 30, 1853. (No model.)

To all ];0711, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES A, BnNrznN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mechanical Movements; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved mechanicall movement specially adapted to a washing-machine, its object being to impart a vertically-reciprocating movement to a reciplocally-rotating plate.

It consists in the combination, with a gearwheel fixed upon the end of ahorizontal rockshaft, to gear mediately with a toothed wheel upon a vertical tubular shaft, so as to impart thereto the reciprocating movement of the rock-shaft, of a-forked lever, or two connected levers pivoted at one end, to extend thence in a right line with the horizontal shaft over the top of the vertical shaft and pass loosely into an opening or slot cut in the web of the wheel in the form of a circular arc concentric with its axis, or otherwise rest upon lugs projecting from the face ofthe wheel, so that as the wheel rotates back and forth first the one and then the other free end of the forked or double lever shall be lifted and dropped at each reciprocation of the wheel, and in connecting` said forked or double lever by a suitable joint with a verticaltrod traversing longitudinally within the vertical tubular shaft, and adapted to be reciprocally rot-ated by the shaft simultaneously with its own rise and fall, said rod carrying` upon its lower end a plate, disk, or other device to be operated 4with said compound movement. j

It consists, furthermore, in devices for arresting and limiting the reciprocating move-` ment ofthe rock-shaft and its gear-wheel, to prevent injury -to the ends of the forked or double lever engaging the same.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of the top of a washing-machine having my improved mechanical movement applied thereto;4 Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same, partly in elevation, in line with the vibrating lever, and Fig. 3, a detail view of the slotted gear-wheel, illustrating the combination therewith of the vibrating arms or levers and of suitable stops.

A represents the top or cover of a washing- 5 5 machine; B, a' rock-shaft mounted in suitable bearings upon said cover, and actuated by a lever, C; D, a vertical triangular frame, whose base is secured to the cower at right angles to the rock-shaft, and to whose `apen is pivoted a double segmental gear, E, furnished with an upper rack, a, whose teeth mesh into atoothed wheel, B', upon the rock-shaft B, and with a lower rack, b, whose teeth mesh into a horizontal gear-wheel, F, mounted upon the upper 6 5 end of a tubular shaft, G, projecting vertically through suitable bearings in the cover, and carrying upon its lower end a plate or disk, H, supported thereby parallel with the cover.. To this plate or disk H is connected a second parallel circular plate or disk, K, by means of rods c c, secured to the disk K, and projecting freely through collars in the upper plate, II, so that the lower plate shall be made to rotate therewith, yet be free to move independently to and from it.` A spring, L, is interposed between the plates H K to keep them automatically apart, and a rod, `M, attached to the lower disk, K, so as'to rotate with it, extendsr thence up freely and loosely through `Se the tubular shaft G. lower disk is armed with rubbers S S, to rub, when the plate is in motion, the clothes in the machine.

rlhe machine, constructed as thus far de- S5 scribed, is substantially similar to that described in my Letters :Patent dated February 6, 1883, No. 271, 594. A cap-plate, N, is jointed centrally to the upper end of the rod M, so as to allow a free rotary movement of the rod 9o therein and a loose play of the cap-plate upon the rod. Through the ends of this plate, on either side of the center, are led transverse bars or rods I I), hinged at one end to the cover, to extend thence through the cap-plate Nin a right line to the gear-wheel B on the end of the rock-shaft B, the web of this gear-wheel is slotted with a segmental opening, t, in the form of a circulararc concentric with the axis of the wheel, through which the ico ends of the rods IJ P pass. rIhis opening beingof `such dimensions as that the ends ofthe The lower :face of the fr l rod will playv loosely therein, and so formed as that when the handle or lever C of the rockwith it the wheel B, is turned in either direc-V tion, the lower opposite end of the opening, as

it is carried up thereby, will bear against the rod on that side and lift it, and with it the capplate N and its attached connecting-rod M and. lower disk, K. The lateral movement of the lifting-rods P P, produced as the wheel rotates back and forth, is provided for and permitted by the width of the slot into which the ends of the rods pass, and the vibration of the rod M consequent upon this lateral movement is also provided for and permitted in the enlarged diameter of the tubular shaft G, through which the rod passes, and in thelooseness of the joint of the rod with the cap-plate N.

Upon the rear face ef the wheel B two lugs or stops, B B, are formed, which, when the movement of the lever Gis completed in either direction, will strike against the frame I) or offsets thereon, and thus limit and arrest the movement of the wheel and protect the rods P P from strain. These' stops may, if preferred, be made to project from the upper rack, a, or other part of the segmental gear E, instead of upon the gear-wheel B, to operate by contact with the frame to limit the reciprocating movements of the rock-shaft and its gear. The two rods P P may be hinged separately to the cover, or preferably may be connected at their hinged end, as illustrated in the drawings, Fig. l; or asingle forked rod or bar provided with two teeth or prongs to engage the slots in the gear-wheel B may be substituted as an equivalent device. It is also manifest that, instead of forming slots in the wheel B to engage the rods P P, offsets may be formed to project from the face of the wheel grfor' the same purpose as an equivalent device.

In operation, when the double segmental gear E is vibrated back and forth by the movement of the lever C, its rock-shaft B,and gearwheel B, a reciprocal rotation of the horizontal wheel Fis produced, which is imparted to the rubbing-disk K through the tubular shaft G, plate H, and rods c c.

disk K is made to move up and down at each Simultaneously the change of its rotating movement by means of the vertically-reciprocating movement of the central rod, M, produced by the lifting of the hinged rods P P, to which it is jointed through the engagement of their free ends with the web ofthe reciprocating gear-wheel B on the rock-shaft, as described.

The use of the rods P P in place of the flexible loop or strap heretofore employed to obtain a vertically-reciprocating movement o1' the disk is attended with many advantages, chief among which is the superior durability of the device and its positive movement.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with a reciprocally-rotating gear-wheel upon the end of a rock-shaft, a swinging double segmental gear engaging the same and actuating a gear-wheel upon the end of a tubular shaft at right angles to the rock-shaft, a disk or plate connected to said tubular shaft to partake of its movement, but left free to vibrate longitudinally thereon, and a longitudinally-recprocating rod' attached to said disk to rotate with it,and extending thence loosely through the tubular shaft, of double rods P P, or their equivalent, as described, hinged at one end to vibrate to and from the end of the tubular shaft, and whose free ends, loosely ljointed to the upper end of its longitudinal]y-reciprocating rod to lift the samey Without interfering with its rotation, are eX- tended to engage the web of the gear-wheel upon the rock-shaft, so as to be lifted by its reciprocating movement, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

2.' The combination, with the rock-shaft B` and its gear-wheel B', the double segment-gear E,aetuatedthereby,thestationary frameD,supporting it, and the hinged rods P, whose free ends engage said wheel B and are lifted thereby, of the stops B It, adapted to engage the frame and to limit the movements of thewheel, segment-gear, and rock-shaft, and protect the rods P against undue strain, substantially in the manner herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name `to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

` CHARLES A. BENTZEN.

l IVitnesses:

A. W. S'rnrenn, G. H. SPENCER.

IOC 

